Tashi Lapcha Pass Trek

Welcome to Nepal. You land at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu (1,400 m), where our representative meets you in the arrivals hall and drives you to your hotel in Thamel.

The briefing for this trek is longer and more technical than most. Your climbing guide goes through the route, the three high camps, the equipment we supply — crampons, harness, ice axe, helmet and rope — and the decision points where the group can be turned round. We fit boots to crampons here rather than at 5,000 m, and go through your personal kit item by item.

The rest of the day is free, and anything still missing can be bought or hired in Thamel. Overnight in Kathmandu.

A long drive east on the Araniko Highway and then north through Dolakha, with the Rolwaling peaks appearing over the ridgelines as the road climbs to Charikot.

The Araniko Highway is the road to the Tibetan border and carries the freight traffic to match, so the first two hours are slow. Beyond the turning at Khadichaur the road climbs steadily into Dolakha, and the terraced middle hills open out with the Rolwaling and Gaurishankar peaks standing on the northern skyline.

Beyond Charikot the surface deteriorates and the road drops steeply to the Tama Koshi, following the river north to the bazaar at Singati (1,000 m).

Around 7–8 hours including stops. The crew sorts loads for the porters this evening, and it is the last night with mains power for a fortnight. Overnight at Singati.

A short drive to the roadhead at Gongar (1,440 m), then the steepest climb of the approach.

The trail crosses the Tama Koshi at Chetchet and goes straight up the hillside — 800 m of stone steps and switchbacks through subtropical forest, hot and unrelenting, with the river shrinking below you.

Simigaon (2,000 m) is a Sherpa village on the shelf at the top, with a gompa above the houses and the first view of Gaurishankar (7,134 m) at the head of the valley.

Around 4 hours including the drive. Overnight at Simigaon.

East into the Rolwaling Khola, and a day spent almost entirely under trees.

The gorge is dense rhododendron, oak and bamboo, with waterfalls dropping off both walls and the river loud below. The trail rolls rather than climbs, crossing side streams on log bridges and traversing sections cut into the cliff face.

In spring the rhododendron flowers for hours of walking at a time — this is one of the finest forest sections anywhere in Nepal, and the last of the greenery for two weeks.

Dongang (2,790 m) is a river clearing with a couple of seasonal lodges. Around 6–7 hours. Overnight at Dongang.

A 900 m climb out of the forest into the high valley.

The trees thin to birch and juniper and then stop, and the valley opens out with the walls stepping back to reveal the peaks the gorge had hidden.

Beding (3,690 m) is the main village of Rolwaling: one line of stone houses along the river, a monastery above, and stone-walled fields of potato and barley. Many of the men here are working mountaineers, and the valley has produced a striking number of expedition climbers — including some of the strongest high-altitude workers in the country.

Gaurishankar stands directly over the village. Around 5–6 hours. Overnight at Beding.

The first of two acclimatisation days, and the start of the altitude plan that gets the group over the col.

The morning walk climbs the slope north of the village towards the shoulder below Chekigo, gaining three or four hundred metres for a view down the valley and across Gaurishankar's south face. Three to four hours at an easy pace.

The afternoon is for rest and for the village. The gompa above the houses is centuries old and the caretaker will usually open it up.

Your guide checks the group tonight for headache, appetite and sleep quality. From here the camps climb steeply and the margin for altitude problems narrows with every one. Overnight at Beding.

A short, gentle day to the last settlement in Rolwaling.

The trail follows the river through open country past stone-walled potato fields and mani walls, the valley floor broad and flat with peaks standing straight out of it.

Na (4,180 m) is a summer settlement of forty or fifty stone huts, occupied while the yaks graze and the potatoes grow and empty in winter. A few of the huts run as lodges in season, and this is the last roof before the Khumbu.

Around 3 hours, arriving by lunchtime. The afternoon is free to rest and look at the route ahead. Overnight at Na.

The second acclimatisation day, and the day the technical preparation happens.

The morning is a walk up towards Yalung Ri base camp at around 4,700 m — a steady climb on moraine for the view back down Rolwaling and across at the peaks of the Tibetan border, and useful height gained before returning to sleep low.

The afternoon is training on the slope above the village: fitting and walking in crampons, using an ice axe, moving as a roped team, and ascending and descending a fixed line. Even if you have done all of it before, the session sets the drills the group will use on the col and lets the guide see how everyone moves.

Your guide makes the first assessment tonight of whether each member of the group is ready for the crossing. Overnight at Na.

The day the group leaves trails and lodges behind for a week.

The trail runs east up the valley floor and climbs onto the lateral moraine of the Trakarding Glacier, following the northern shore of Tsho Rolpa (4,580 m) — three and a half kilometres of grey-green meltwater with icebergs calving into its far end, the largest glacial lake in Nepal.

The moraine path is loose and narrow with a considerable drop to the water, and the group moves carefully and one at a time in a few places.

Beyond the lake the route drops onto the glacier itself and picks a line through the rubble to Glacier Camp (4,600 m), tents pitched on flattened moraine with the ice grinding audibly underneath.

Around 6–7 hours. Overnight camping at Glacier Camp.

A slow day on the ice, short in distance and long in effort.

The route works up the Trakarding Glacier through moraine, ice hummocks and old crevasses, with the group roped for the sections where the ice is bare. Progress at this altitude is measured in hours rather than kilometres, and the crew goes ahead to have the camp up and tea ready.

The scale here is difficult to take in. The Drolambau Glacier spills in from the north in a broken icefall, and the walls on both sides run up to the 6,000 m peaks of the Rolwaling Himal.

Ngole (4,860 m) is a camp on the moraine below the icefall, cold as soon as the sun leaves the valley in mid-afternoon. Around 5 hours. Overnight camping at Ngole.

A short, steep day onto the shelf below the pass, and the highest camp of the trek.

The route climbs the side of the Drolambau icefall on rock and snow, roped throughout, with a fixed line on the steepest section. It is only three to four hours but at this altitude, carrying a heavier pack, it is a full day's work.

High Camp (5,150 m) sits on a shelf of rock and snow beneath the col. There is no shelter and no water except melted snow, and the wind picks up in the afternoon. The camp exists for one reason: to put the group on the pass at first light.

The evening is early and organised — boots, crampons, harness and water sorted before dark, a hot meal, and everything that must not freeze inside the sleeping bag. Your guide sets the start time and the turnaround. Overnight camping at High Camp.

The crossing. Everything so far has been preparation for the next twelve hours.

We leave High Camp in the dark, roped and in crampons, and climb the last snow slope to the Tashi Lapcha (5,755 m) as the sun comes up. The col is a narrow gap in the ridge marked with prayer flags, with Tengi Ragi Tau and Pachermo on either side and the Khumbu opening ahead — Kongde, Kusum Kanguru and the peaks above Namche in the distance.

The east side is the steeper one. A fixed line protects the first section down rock and snow, then the route works through crevassed ground with the group roped and moving one at a time. This is the part that demands concentration, and it is not rushed.

Below the glacier the ground turns to moraine and finally to grass at the yak pastures above the Thame valley, at around 4,350 m. After a week on rock and ice, pitching tents on turf feels like a luxury.

Ten to twelve hours. Overnight camping at Thyangbo Kharka.

An easy morning down into inhabited country, and the first lodge in a week.

The trail follows the Thyangbo valley south on grass and moraine, dropping steadily with yaks grazing on the slopes and stone huts appearing as the valley widens. Water is plentiful again and the air is noticeably thicker.

Thame (3,820 m) is a substantial Sherpa village in the upper Bhote Koshi, with a gompa founded several hundred years ago on the hillside above and a long history in mountaineering — Tenzing Norgay grew up here, and so did several of the most successful Everest climbers of the last fifty years.

Around 4–5 hours. This is where the camping ends. A room, a hot shower and a menu with more than four things on it. Overnight at Thame.

A gentle day down the Bhote Koshi into the centre of the Everest region.

The trail contours through pine and juniper past Thamo and Phurte, with mani walls and water-driven prayer wheels beside the path and the peaks of the Khumbu opening ahead. It is a well-built, well-used trail, and after the col it feels like a highway.

Namche Bazaar (3,440 m) arrives suddenly: a horseshoe of lodges, bakeries, gear shops and cafés stacked up the hillside, with Kongde Ri opposite and Everest and Lhotse visible from the ridge above town.

After two weeks in Rolwaling and on the glacier, Namche is a genuine shock — espresso, wifi and hundreds of trekkers. It is also the right place to celebrate the crossing. Around 5 hours. Overnight at Namche Bazaar.

The last walking day, down the Dudh Koshi on the main Everest trail.

The descent from Namche to the Hillary Bridge is steep and busy, and then the trail follows the river south through Monjo, where you check out of Sagarmatha National Park, and Phakding, with a final climb of a couple of hundred metres into Lukla at the end.

It is a long day — six to seven hours — but easy going after everything behind it, and the valley is green and warm.

Lukla (2,840 m) is where the crew is paid and thanked, and where the group has its last dinner together. Around 6–7 hours. Overnight at Lukla.

An early start for the morning flight, which is the only kind Lukla has.

The Tenzing–Hillary Airport runway is 527 m long and slopes uphill into a hillside, and the take-off, which drops straight off the end into the valley, is one of the more memorable thirty seconds in aviation. The flight to Kathmandu (1,400 m) takes about 35 minutes, or lands at Manthali depending on the season's schedule.

Transfer to your hotel. The rest of the day is yours, and it usually goes on a long shower, a large lunch and very little else.

If the weather holds the flight, this is what tomorrow's spare day is for. Overnight in Kathmandu.

A day held in reserve for the Lukla flight, and a free day in the city if it ran on schedule.

Lukla is cancelled by weather in every season, and an itinerary without a spare day is one that risks your international connection. If yesterday went to plan, today is yours.

Good options with your guide: Boudhanath in the late afternoon, when the Tibetan Buddhist community walks the circuit and the lamps are lit; the old town and pottery square at Bhaktapur; or Patan Durbar Square and its museum. Thamel handles the shopping.

Overnight in Kathmandu.

Your last day in Nepal. If your flight leaves later there is time for one more stop in the valley — Swayambhunath in the morning light is a good way to finish.

Our representative collects you from your hotel and transfers you to Tribhuvan International Airport around three hours before departure.

You have crossed one of the hardest passes in Nepal that does not require a climbing permit, walked from the Tama Koshi to the Dudh Koshi over a glacier, and seen two valleys that could not be less alike. If you want the next step up, Sherpani Col and the Amphu Labtsa in the Makalu region are the natural progression. Safe travels.